Jim Haslam, Jiao Ji and Hanwen Sun
The purpose of this paper is to summarise and reflect upon key issues at the interface of prices, information and regulation with a focus upon the stock market in context…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to summarise and reflect upon key issues at the interface of prices, information and regulation with a focus upon the stock market in context. Reflecting upon academic research in the area of efficient markets, and regulatory policy, the concern is to discern issues in terms of policy and support for policy. What does the research imply for policy? Is it possible that the research, perhaps given its rhetoric, can be misinterpreted in relation to policy? The study is also concerned to develop avenues for future research based on these considerations.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is an analytical and critical review and writing.
Findings
The reading of the research suggests a pragmatic regulatory policy that should be concerned to improve stock market functioning, including with respect to information, as well as the context of which this is part. At the same time, the literature may be read as promoting anti-regulatory policy.
Practical implications
On the one hand, these are consistent with the pragmatic policy referred to above. On the other hand, further research is suggested to explore substantively the rhetoric of the research and its interpretation and to explore understandings of the research and its implications amongst key constituencies in practice.
Originality/value
The concern is to bring key insights from the academic literature together with a view to promoting a pragmatic policy orientation, while cautioning in a critical perspective about how this academic literature and research might be interpreted from a policy perspective.
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Mian Wang and Yajing Feng
Special education in China has lagged behind regular education for many years, however, the past few decades, the government has made considerable efforts to develop and improve…
Abstract
Special education in China has lagged behind regular education for many years, however, the past few decades, the government has made considerable efforts to develop and improve the special education system. While the citizens of China have had a generic moral interest in disability since ancient times, the development of special education schools did not occur until American and European missionaries started schools for the visually and hearing impaired in the 19th century. The next major influence in the development of the special education system occurred with China’s Cultural Revolution in 1978. Interestingly, there is not any exclusive legislation on special education but in the 1980s, the government started Learning in Regular Classrooms (LRC), which is China’s version of inclusion. LRC has progressed rapidly the past two decades; however, the quality of instruction is low due to a lack of specialists, a shortage of personnel, inadequate funding, and limited technology as well as other barriers that are delineated in the chapter. The chapter emphasizes the government’s recent efforts in in-service teacher training, the preparation of preservice teachers, working with families, developing community rehabilitation training programs, and implementing evidence-based practices. Special education in China today is at a good place but it has quite a way from the ideal situation.
This paper aims to make a call for the establishment of a new research journal: a likely title for which would be Chinese Public Management. The background to this is clearly set…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to make a call for the establishment of a new research journal: a likely title for which would be Chinese Public Management. The background to this is clearly set out here for posterity’s sake. The review of selected papers unveils an emerging trend amongst Chinese researchers for undertaking deeper, cluster-based analyses. See, for example, the insights presented in this issue concerning competitiveness in China’s automobile industry.
Design/methodology/approach
A diary-like account has been made of the series of recent events that sparked the author’s interest in creating a journal to be known as Chinese Public Management. Why is there currently this focus on empirical research for public policy? From the author’s five years’ work for a serial visiting professorship across China, he has found that there are now well-established, substantial databases dedicated to the subject. Even more importantly – as this paper illustrates – a growing community of scholars has become keen to embark upon an in-depth, quantitative research. Perhaps, for the new journal, we would need an editor concentrating specifically on databases. Furthermore, undertaking scholarly work that is still of practical relevance for guiding authorities in their formulations of public policy will add a whole new dimension to the available research.
Findings
There is scope for a new endeavor that documents management research within the public sector in China. This may be seen as a sister journal for “Chinese Management Studies” that focuses on the other, much larger Chinese sector, that is, governmental organizations.
Originality/value
This paper documents the emergence of the necessity for a new journal about management in China.
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Rong Huang, Guang Yang, Xiaoye Chen and Yuxin Chen
This study aims to investigate the influence of CEO’s only-child status on corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices. It seeks to extend the understanding of upper echelon…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the influence of CEO’s only-child status on corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices. It seeks to extend the understanding of upper echelon theory by examining unexplored CEO characteristics and their impact on CSR decisions.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses manually collected CEO family information and Chinese Stock and Market Accounting Research data as a basis to examine the influence of CEOs’ early-life experiences on their engagement in CSR activities. The study applies attachment security theory from developmental psychology and uses upper echelon theory, particularly focusing on CEOs’ only-child status. A comparative analysis of philanthropic donations between CEOs who are only children and those who have siblings is conducted. The study also examines the moderating effects of corporate slack resources and CEO shareholdings.
Findings
Preliminary findings suggest that CEOs who are only children are more likely to engage in CSR compared to their counterparts with siblings. However, the difference in donation amounts between the two groups tends to attenuate with decreased slack resources and increased CEO shareholdings.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research represents the first attempt to investigate being the only child in one’s family and the CSR-related decision of CEOs, which extends the upper echelon theory by introducing the family science theory into the management domain.
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Wu Yan and Lisa Catherine Ehrich
The purpose of this paper is to provide an understanding of principal preparation and training in China by providing a background discussion of principal preparation in a number…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide an understanding of principal preparation and training in China by providing a background discussion of principal preparation in a number of countries. As an illustration, it provides an overview of the curriculum used in the initial preparation of school principals at Beijing Normal University.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws mainly on writing and research from China, Australia and the USA to explore principal preparation and training in China.
Findings
In addition to providing a rich description of principal preparation in China, the paper's main findings comprise seven key challenges that confront China as it endeavours to provide quality principal preparation. These challenges include China's diversity and uneven social, cultural and educational development; limited resources in some regions throughout China; the place and importance of study tours for principal preparation; the teaching approach used to train principals; the process used for assessing principal learning during their training programs; the limited transfer of learning from the classroom to the school environment; and the timing of training for principals.
Practical implications
Each of the challenges arising here raises important practical implications for developers of principal training programs.
Originality/value
The paper paints a picture of principal preparation in China and raises a number of issues and challenges with which it continues to grapple. Of note is that China is not alone in facing some of these ongoing concerns.
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By using food consumption as a kaleidoscope, the aim of this paper is to illustrate the bidirectional and dialectical interactions among caregivers and between single children and…
Abstract
Purpose
By using food consumption as a kaleidoscope, the aim of this paper is to illustrate the bidirectional and dialectical interactions among caregivers and between single children and their multiple caregivers in Xiamen.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper reports findings from in‐depth interviews with grandparents and parents (n=33) from ten three‐generational families and parents (n=20) from ten nuclear families with single children between six and nine years old.
Findings
Grandparents unequivocally accorded supreme importance to ensuring a child finishes his/her meals while parents tended to hold slightly more liberal views. These differences created higher conflict and tensions between the caregivers in three‐generational families as compared to nuclear households. Children in multigenerational families were more frequently force‐fed by adult‐caregivers whereas their counterparts were more capable of feeding themselves during meal times.
Research limitations/implications
This exploratory study provides in‐depth insights but carries the limitation of generalisability. Future research can apply similar methodology on bigger samples so as to ascertain a better estimation of the extent of stress and tension across generations over meal times in urban China.
Practical implications
The initial finding reported in this paper is useful for public health workers and family life educators in China to help families with children of middle childhood to manage tension arising from meal times.
Originality/value
Diverging from most parenting research which tends to focus on parent‐child dynamics, this paper included three generations – grandparents, parents, grandchildren – in the research conceptualization. This is important as grandparents are integral parts of childrearing in China.